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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Allan Hedin, Adam Johannes Johansson, Christina Lilja (SKB)
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 559-567
Copper has, based on its favorable corrosion properties according to established scientific knowledge, been selected as a container material in the KBS-3 repository concept. The view that copper corrodes only to a very limited extent in pure O2-free water has, however, been challenged in some publications during the last decade. Therefore, SKB has initiated experimental and theoretical work to evaluate the claims made in those publications.
The experiments on which the claims are based have been repeated under more controlled conditions and an alternative method to carry out the same measurement has been developed and applied. No evidence of continuing copper corrosion was found. Theoretical and experimental work has been carried out in search of hitherto unknown species of the Cu-O-H system that could be a driving force for corrosion reactions. No such species were found. Reports of these works are summarized and it is concluded that the scientific basis for claiming that copper corrodes in pure water to an extent exceeding that predicted by established thermodynamic data is weak.
In addition, “what if” calculations are presented, where it is hypothetically assumed that the recent claims regarding copper corrosion are correct. The calculations demonstrate that copper corrosion depths in a final repository would be of the order of 1 mm in one million years, also for a bounding case where no transport limitations in a repository environment are taken into account.